The present invention relates to a drag mechanism for a spinning reel.
Spinning reels are provided with drag mechanisms designed to prevent a fishing string from rupturing under the drag, i.e., the force with which a fish, which has been caught, draws back the string. In conventional drag mechanisms, frictional disks fixed on the reel shaft are alternately incorporated with frictional disks which are so arranged as to be capable of rotating together with the spool, and the degree of contact between the frictional disks, i.e., the braking force, is adjustable by means of an adjusting knob located at the tip of the reel shaft. When a torque over a certain limit is exerted on the spool by the drag, the spool is designed to rotate in the direction for releasing the string. With such conventional reels provided with the adjusting knob at the tip of the reel shaft, when one wants to adjust the braking force in proportion to the drag produced by the fish being caught, the adjusting knob must be operated by inserting the hand between the fishing rod and the string stretched parallel to the rod. The adjusting operation is not only tedious but also difficult to perform smoothly. To eliminate this disadvantage, an improved structure has been developed in which the position of the drag mechanism was changed to the rear of the reel shaft so that the adjusting knob may be operated from the rear end of the reel shaft. With this arrangement, however, the basic structure of the spinning reel makes it impossible to position such a large-diameter knob at the rear of the shaft. To utilize fully the pressing force exerted on each of the multiple frictional disks, the adjusting knob must be rotated with a greated force than when it is located at the tip of the reel shaft, such an operation being difficult to perform while the fishing rod is held. With all of the conventional structures wherein both the adjusting knob and the plural frictional disks are located coaxially with the reel shaft, the braking force, which has been set, is made to change by the movement of the reel shaft.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a novel drag mechanism for a spinning reel which is free of the disadvantages found in the prior art conventional products. The mechanism of the present invention is characterized in (1) the conventional use of a plurality of sheets of frictional disks has been revised to the use of a single sheet; (2) the disk is placed on the reel shaft on the side of the reel opposite the spool on the reel shaft in a coupled reciprocating and rotating movement with the spool, i.e., at the rear end of the reel shaft, in such a way that the disk is coupled with the reel shaft, only with respect to its rotating motion; and (3) the disk has a braking mechanism which is capable of exerting adjustable braking forces on the outer circular section of the disk. These structures enable the adjustment of the braking force without the application of great forces or restriction on the handling space by the string and furthermore allows the braking force, once set, to be maintained unchanged.